This study aims to check the validity and reliability of a social impact scale of mega sporting events in the context of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The scale was developed in three steps. First, a literature review and a preliminary survey of residents of Tokyo and neighboring cities were conducted to summarize the social impact items relating to sporting events. Second, the content and translation validity of the measurements were evaluated by several experts who specialize in sport management. Finally, a main survey was conducted to check the validity and reliability of the scale (10 factors and 32 items), which was confirmed with partial insufficiency to its criteria. The current study extends previous research by developing a social impact scale for sporting events, a topic barely explored in Japan.

This study aimed to demonstrate empirically the influence of brand attributes regarding professional baseball teams on benefits and attitudes of residents according to customer-based brand equity (Keller, 1993). This study also examined the influence of residents' benefits and attitudes on team attachment. An internet research company was used to conduct an online survey to collect data from residents who had attended at least one home game during the 2013-2015 seasons in six cities where Pacific League teams were based. The results of the structural equation modeling showed the relations among attributes, benefits, and attitudes were different from Keller's (1993) concepts. In terms of the relations between benefits and attachment, symbolic benefit influenced attachment, although experiential benefit did not. Nor was there a significant relation between attitude and attachment. Further, the study discussed the findings and their theoretical and practical implications.

This study aimed to explore the longitudinal change in the sense of community responsibility (SOC-R) of players belonging to professional sports teams toward their hometowns and other related variables, and to build a new SOC-R model considering the passage of time. At the beginning and end of the season, data were collected from independent professional Japanese baseball team players. The longitudinal factor analysis demonstrated that each scale, from hometown engagement (maintaining relationships and being a role model), a personal belief system during team activities (passion, pride), to hometown SOC-R, was invariant. Moreover, it showed that factor mean of “maintaining relationships” and “obsessive passion” had decreased. Furthermore, the validity of the new SOC-R model considering the passage of time, which has not been clarified in the conventional SOC-R model, was confirmed. We found a partial relationship in which hometown engagement, mediated by personal belief systems, influenced SOC-R.